The Valley Indy chatted with Derby Mayor Anthony Staffieri Friday about the proposed Derby school budget, which carries a 7.25 percent — or $1.28 million — increase over the current budget.
If adopted by the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation in its current form, the school budget would increase taxes by $275 on a property assessed at $189,000.
Valley Indy: You announced this week you will seek re-election. The last line of your press release says you wished the school system reported to you. What would you cut from the school’s proposed budget, if you could?
Mayor Staffieri: “I would make them accountable for every penny they spent — and make them spend it in the areas they’re always asking for. They always ask for money for textbooks. We give them the money for textbooks and they don’t buy them. I don’t understand. Last year they gave back $70,000 to the city. Why didn’t they buy textbooks with them?”
Valley Indy: School leaders keep saying Derby under-funds the district. They keep pointing to data from the state Education Department. You think that’s the same old song?
Staffieri: “It’s a charge that’s easy to make. Throw mud against the wall and see what sticks. How can we under-fund education when we just built a $28 million middle school? How are we under-funding the school district when there are many in-kind services the city does for them? Public works plow their parking lots. All they have to do is shovel the sidewalks. When you put everything together, we give more than most cities. Look at Ansonia. They spend less per pupil than Derby and they have better grades. What’s the magic there? They spend less and get a better education.”
Valley Indy: When you say you want to see accountability in the school district, what does that mean?
Staffieri: “In the private world, when someone doesn’t do their job, whether it’s an employee or whether it’s an administrator, either they lose their job or they get a reduction in pay. But not in the school system we have now. And it’s not just in Derby. This is throughout the whole state, the whole country. Things need to change. Teachers and administrators doing a good job should be rewarded.”
Valley Indy One thing that Judy Szewczyk asked the other night, which was sort of along the same lines of what you’re saying, she said ‘Look, if we give you guys a $1 million increase each year at what point can we no longer afford it?’ You’re saying change is needed on the broader level, because the way it is right now a small city like Derby is going to go bust because of the system?
Staffieri: “Exactly. They can’t keep going the same way. Their solution is ‘give us more money.’ How about some creative thinking? How about things that don’t work, you stop doing and you change it? How about what these salaries are for teachers that work 183 days out of the year? You get into this conversation and you could spend all week on it. Let’s just use some common sense. Common sense and accountability.”
Valley Indy: I called your opponent, or who could be your opponent in the election, Dan Foley. He said you’re politicizing the school budget instead of working with the school district leaders.
Staffieri: “I am far from politicizing the school budget. I am for running the government like a business. I’m looking at departments (on the city side of the budget). They’re going for no increase. Everybody is working together to keep a zero increase, not asking for a crazy amount of money and having no accountability.”
Staffieri said in this interview “I would make them accountable for every penny they spent”. I would like him to do the same and explain to the people of Derby where all our tax money has been going for years. Our streets are in bad shape, nothing has been done downtown, there are fewer community programs, our schools are failing, and businesses are disappearing at an alarming rate. So Tony what exactly have you done for Derby?
He also stated, “How about what these salaries are for teachers that work 183 days out of the year?” Everyone knows that the majority of teachers earn very little in comparison to what they pay to get their degrees and then maintain supplies in their own classrooms. To go after the teachers is cowardly and disgusting. I am sure that there are a few teachers who are not best and are perhaps overpaid but the majority of them are compassionate, hard working men and women who are striving to help their students succeed.
sharpeye: I do not see how it matters who pays the bills in my household or what that has to do with this article or my response to it. But, if you are really that curious about it, I handle the finances.
To answer your question on why I live in Derby despite the flaws I see in the city, it is because I believe in the potential of the city. In order for this potential to be realized people need to wake up to the fact that there are problems and work together on finding solutions to those problems. Unlike some other people, I do not run away when I see problems in my community. Instead I demand the leaders of my community to be accountable for their actions (or lack thereof) and I ask that everyone else does the same. Nothing was ever fixed or changed by ignoring a problem and that is why I want the mayor to explain to everyone why Derby has gone so downhill under his leadership.
And before you even go there sharpeye, I am neither Republican nor Democrat, and therefore I am not trying to endorse either candidate.
sharpeye: I have not once resorted to insulting you, so I do not know what you are talking about. I have kept my comments about the article and the issues facing this city. However, I find it very interesting that you became enraged that Mr. Tibbs is questioning your personal life when you did the exact same to me; for example asking who handles the bills and where I live.
For the record, I think that all of the name calling and cheap shots should stop. As adults we should work together and try to find solutions to the problems that plague us all, not waste our time on stupid childish banter. Say what you will about me, I will no longer respond to you sharpeye unless you have something productive to say. I will not allow your negativity bring me down.